Gearing up for World AIDS Day 2008

[Guest guest]

Gearing up for World AIDS Day 2008

13 November 2007

The 20th annual World AIDS Day—that takes place on December 1— will

focus on leadership, the theme set by the World AIDS Campaign under

the five-year slogan " Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise " .

With less than a month to go before this year's World AIDS Day,

events to commemorate the day are being organized all over the world.

The 20th annual World AIDS Day—that takes place on December 1— will

focus on leadership, the theme set by the World AIDS Campaign under

the five-year slogan " Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise " .

World AIDS Day is a day when people from around the world come

together within a single effort to raise awareness about HIV and to

express global solidarity with people living with HIV. But World AIDS

day is not just about raising awareness. It also provides a global

opportunity to urge governments and leaders for all promises on AIDS

to be kept as well as an opportunity to demonstrate commitment and

action on AIDS.

In designating leadership as the World AIDS Day theme for the next

two years (2007 – 2008), the World AIDS Campaign highlights both the

political leadership needed to fulfill commitments that have been

made in the response to AIDS – particularly the promise of universal

access to treatment, prevention, care and support – and celebrating

the leadership that has been witnessed at all levels of society.

In preparation for this year's World AIDS Day, the World AIDS

Campaign has produced a wide range of new materials to be used by

people and organizations that want to set up their own events on

World AIDS Day. These materials are available on the World AIDS

Campaign Web site. World AIDS Campaign materials are intended to

provide organizations who have limited resources with access to

meaningful campaigning materials as well as enhancing solidarity

within the global response to AIDS by working through a united

effort.

The materials available consist of posters, leaflets and CD-ROMs in a

number of languages, including French, Spanish, Russian, Swahili and

English. Other language versions, particularly African languages, are

also offered via electronic distribution. The printed posters and CD-

ROMs can also be ordered from the World AIDS Campaign web site.

The web site also has a calendar of events where more and more

organizations are now listing information on their planned activities

for World AIDS Day so people can browse the different events planned

in their country or region.

For the 2007 celebrations, the World AIDS Campaign has also produced,

in collaboration with UNAIDS, a public service announcement on this

year's leadership theme that is being distributed to promote the day

and/or can be shown during events.

UNAIDS founded the World AIDS Campaign originally as a loose

partnership of UN agencies, governments and all sectors of civil

society to campaign around specific themes related to AIDS.

The World AIDS campaign is now an independent NGO based in Amsterdam, the

Netherlands, and is governed by a Global Steering Committee of global

constituency-based AIDS networks comprised of the Global Network of People

Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS,

the Youth Coalition, the Global Unions

Programme on HIV/AIDS, the International Council of AIDS Service

Organizations, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, and the

International Women's AIDS Caucus. UNAIDS and the Global Fund to

Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria are non-voting members.

http://www.worldaidscampaign.info/

http://www.unaids.org/en/MediaCentre/PressMaterials/FeatureStory/20071

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